COMMUNITY FORUM

Dry Walls--New Construction

We are building a new home 3 floors, 6,000 sq feet, and can no longer count on our builder to look out for our best interests. The house will soon be ready for dry walls and we would like some expert advice so we will know what to ask for/expect from subcontractors. I guess what I am asking for are key things that you would want to see in writing from the person doing your dry walls. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Unless you are providing the drywall contractor yourself, the builder (nor his drywall subcontractor) is under no obligation to provide what you ask.

The reason is that the drywall subcontractor is an 'employee' of the general contractor and does not work for you.

Your only recourse is with the builder directly in a case like this.

Only other source for basic expectations about what to expect with drywall installation is to consult the building code enforcement office overseeing your job and what requirements they may have regarding drywall installation.

Ask him for a certificate of insurance,how far out he is,and get a time frame of how long to expect this should take,if he has any other jobs going on,if he is jumping from job to job you may run into delays.

Unless the drywall contractor is a direct 'sub' of the poster here who is acting as a General Contractor, there is absolutley NO reason to ask a drywaller for a 'certificate of insurance' and absolutley NO reason why the drywaller should supply one.

The ONLY one who would have any any need for a 'certificate of insurance' from a 'sub' is the one who actually employs him.

From what this original poster has explained, he/she has no right nor title to a certificate of insurance from the drywall subcontractor since he/she is not the 'general' and since the drywall subcontractor wdoes not work for him/her.

As a homeowner if they are hiring anyone to come into their home they have every legal right to ask for a certificate of insurance,you also have every right to make the builder show you a "COI" of any company or sub who does any sort of work in your home.Ive had homeowners ask for them and gladly had the insurance company fax one to them,some have actually said my bid was quite a bit higher than the other painters but hired us because of it even though the other painter has been in business for 10 years in the area.But he said he has the right not to show it,and they had the right to deny him the job.

I would not let anyone work on my house without one.This is my own opinion about not letting anyone work on my personal house.

The bottom line is when you are having a house built it not yours until the it is tranfered to you at closing. You picked a builder and you need to deal with them and not the sub-contractors working on the house as this will cause alot of confusion if you do and most builders insist on this. They do this not to try and hide things but to have one person dealing with things, and sometimes people will try and get the subs to do extra work and at closing it get confusing on who is going to pay for the extra work that was not in the contract.

You do have the right to insist on a good job and you should meet the builder on the job site if you have any questions. Also remember don't pick to much on the house when it still in the construction stage as it not finished yet. Also don't go to the house every day.